Robot-assisted fruit harvesting: a real-world usability study

The introduction of mobile robots to assist pickers in transporting crops during fruit harvesting operations is a promising solution to mitigate the impacts of the current labour shortage. However, having robots sharing the workspace with humans involves solving new challenges related to Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). For instance, effective Human-Robot Communication (HRC) methods will be crucial to not only ensure safe and efficient HRI but to mitigate the potential stress of pickers who interact with robots for the first time. If the stress or discomfort levels are not mitigated, then instead of facilitating the harvesting task, the robot can become a burden. In this context, this paper contributes to one of the first user studies investigating the preferences and requirements of end users (actual pickers) to improve the usability of Robot-Assisted Fruit Harvesting (RAFH) solutions. The study involves real-world experiments and the usability assessment of existing and potential future technology which results and lessons learned can be used as guidelines for agri-robotics companies and stakeholders on how to design and deploy their own RAFH solutions.